heartbreaker | k.sj

behind her smile

it was a typical sunday afternoon, as the new couple cuddled under the shade of a tree, watching children play happily on the playground not too far away from them.

nina smiles down at the boy who had his eyes closed, his head laying in her lap. she ran her fingers through his hair every now and then, as they sat in comfortable silence.

as he felt her gaze on him, seokjin flutters his eyes open, a small smile growing on his lips. "like what you see?"

nina scoffs at him, ruffling his bangs. "no, you're ugly." she says jokingly, and he pouts. "awh, you're the only one who has ever said that."

she suddenly pinches his nose, making him yelp. "yeah, because it's not true, you idiot."

nina begins to laugh at that, as seokjin looks up at her while holding his nose, glaring at her cutely.

but, her bright smile and laughter distracts him from everything else in that moment. the way her eyes disappeared when she smiled; and her laughter was like music to his ears.

he wouldn't mind listening to it one day.

her laughter calms down, and she raises an eyebrow at him. "hey, why are you staring at me like that all of a sudden?"

seokjin ignores her question with his own. "i have a question," he says, keeping the same expression. "alright...what is it?"

"why don't you smile that much?" he asks, and her bright expression drops. however, she covers it with a laugh. "pft, why are you asking?"

"obviously, i barely see you smile." he replies, and she huffs out a small sigh, her eyes averting away from him, and into the distance.

however, he keeps his eyes on her.

"i never really tell anyone this but, since you're oh so special to me, i'll tell you." she says, and he nods repeatedly.

she pauses for a moment before speaking. "for most of my life, i got made fun of for my own smile. people at my school would call me buck teeth or beaver, and not only them but my entire family said those kind of things as well." 

while nina explains the reasons behind she barely showed her smile, seokjin couldn't help but just stare at her while she spoke.

he admired the way she spoke and her expression while she spoke, and her voice was soothing. everything about her was so admirable, he found himself questioning how he even deserves someone like her.

as she explained herself, seokjin would nod from time to time to show her he was listening. because he truly was.

she continues, "ever since then, i stopped smiling. i never found the motivation to find anything to smile about, because if i did, it would just disappear in that second because someone would call me out on it."

nina huffs out a breath, trying to maintain her tears from flowing out in that moment. "so, my parents forced me to get braces and i wasn't fond of dentists back then, so it was hard for me."

even though she kept trying to hold her tears in, one tear couldn't help but slip out. once it did, she quickly wiped it.

"i may smile more now, but that's only because my braces fixed it. a part of me still hurts from everything in the past, because not once did my family ever apologize to me...but i have my friends and you by my side now."

seokjin sits up from her lap, immediately engulfing nina in a warm hug without any words. she softly begins to sob into his chest.

"don't worry about it anymore...i'm always going to be here to cheer you on, okay?" he assures her as much as he could, rubbing her back affectionately.

he pulls away from the hug to cup both of her cheeks, staring into her eyes deeply. "i don't know how anyone could do that to you...your smile is literally a gift from the heavens."

he says to her sweetly, wiping her tears with his thumb. she sniffles a little from crying, trying to wipe it herself.

leaning in, he starts to kiss every feature of her face. from her forehead, to her cheek, heck, from her eyes.

nina closes her eyes as he does this, taking in all of his affection.

"all of you," he pauses, placing his last kiss on her lips. "i'm in love with." 

she pouts at him, "how can you say all of that?" she says, but laughs in the midst of her cries.

"aish," he expresses in slight frustration, "how does one still look so godamn beautiful even when they cry?"

nina chuckles, hitting his shoulder playfully. "shut up, you probably still look just as ethereal as you always do when you cry."

with her words, seokjin couldn't help but grin uncontrollably, pulling her into another long hug.

it was moments like these where they wished that time would stop, and this moment would last forever. because for the first time in their lives, they felt loved and cared for.

[ the end ]